Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

Kathy Castor

While Florida’s senators expressed outrage at the Cuban government Friday, Tampa area Democratic Representative Kathy Castor is offering a noticeably less punitive response. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio were angry after the U.S. State Department announced it will remove more than half its staff from the American embassy in Havana in the wake of mysterious attacks that have injured 21 people associated with the embassy.

Tampa Democratic Representative Kathy Castor is pressing for an increase in federal disaster aid to the highest share possible to help Floridians recover rapidly from the damage caused by Hurricane Irma.

President Donald Trump said beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program shouldn’t worry about their future, despite an announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the program will end in six months unless Congress addresses the issue.

The fight is only beginning, say Tampa Bay-area residents who face deportation because of Tuesday’s decision by the Donald Trump administration to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). “This is an attack on our community, so I want everybody to come together and fight, because this is not the end,” said Valentina Ortiz, 26, at a news conference by immigration advocates in Ybor City’s Centennial Park. “I have a lot of emotions — sad, mad, but it’s not…

Joining what is expected to be a bruising Democratic primary, state Representative Janet Cruz has filed to run for for the District 1 seat on the Hillsborough County Commission. Cruz, who is term limited out in 2018, had said months ago that she would be running for the seat, so it’s not much of a surprise that she entered the race. But that does not take away from the interest level in her decision because she is running against Tampa City Councilwoman…